The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 392 - 391: Approaching the Zhuang Family

Chapter 392: Chapter 391: Approaching the Zhuang Family

Looking at her daughter’s pale and frail face, Ou’s mother opened her mouth and for a moment, didn’t know how to comfort her.

If it were any other mother, she could have said, "You can still have another child."

But Ou Liya had injured her uterus and lost the chance to bear children for the rest of her life.

"Mom, say something, where is my baby?"

Seeing her daughter so emotional, Ou’s mother had to muster up her strength to comfort her, "Liya, don’t think too much, focus on getting better first."

Ou Liya understood all too well, and looked at her flat stomach in disbelief, "My baby is gone, my baby, waaah..."

Ou Liya’s crying drew the attention of the medical staff.

"What’s all this crying for, if you knew this would happen, why did you bring it upon yourself? Being pregnant and still messing around with others, you hurt your baby and yourself, isn’t it all your own doing? What do you have to cry about?"

The nurse’s mocking words caused the other patients’ family members in the same room to cast strange looks at the mother and daughter.

Ou’s mother was so ashamed she couldn’t lift her head.

Ou Liya, both shocked and angry, her pale face turning bright red with fury, said, "You, you’re talking nonsense! What’s your name, I’m going to complain to your supervisor about you!"

Hearing that Ou Liya wanted to complain, the nurse backed down and left after giving a brief explanation to Ou’s mother.

But Ou Liya refused to let it go, "Stop right there, make yourself clear."

"Forget it, Liya, let’s not bother with her."

"How can we forget it, she slandered me, what about my reputation?"

Just as Ou Liya was desperately seeking to clear her name, a patient in the same room scoffed, "Doing indecent things without shame and still worried about your reputation, that’s laughable. A woman as vain as you, even the gods can’t stand it, punishing you with infertility for life! Serves you right!"

Ou Liya stared at the person, her expression full of doubt and alarm.

"Mom, who is she talking about? Who can’t have children anymore?"

Ou’s mother hesitated before speaking, her eyes filled with sorrow, "Liya, you were bleeding heavily; if we didn’t remove your uterus, you wouldn’t have survived."

It was as if a heavy blow had struck her head.

Without a uterus, wouldn’t that mean she could never bear children in her life?

Ou Liya’s head was buzzing, her eyes widened, "Mom, go find Shiqing, he must have a way to save me!"

Tears streamed down Ou’s mother’s face as she said, "The Zhuang Family doesn’t care about us at all anymore."

"I was carrying his child; even if I had a miscarriage, he still has to take responsibility for me!"

Ou’s mother shook her daughter’s shoulders forcefully, as if trying to shake some sense into her.

"Liya, why are you so foolish, with your belly that big, why couldn’t you just behave and not end up like this! What am I supposed to say about you!"

"I didn’t!"

Ou Liya felt an extreme sense of injustice.

It wasn’t that Ou’s mother didn’t believe her, but Zhuang Xueqi had orchestrated the entire charade perfectly.

Apart from the three actors including Ding Qian, the driver arranged by the Zhuang Family for Ou Liya had also been bought off by Zhuang Xueqi, becoming a witness to accuse Ou Liya of having secret rendezvous with the "pretty boy."

The pretty boy’s name was Jinming, and he was the actual tenant of Ding Qian’s apartment.

Although Ding Qian often visited there, she always discreetly used the back door out of sight.

Jinming, on the other hand, came and went in a very high-profile manner, making the neighbors believe he was the one living there.

Thus, when Ou Liya went to meet Jinming again, the driver finally "reported" to Zhuang Shiqing.

This led to Zhuang Shiqing catching Ou Liya and the pretty boy "in the act."

While Ou Liya was unconscious, following Zhuang Shiqing’s orders, the driver took Jinming to Ou’s mother, and disclosed the whole story.

The pretty boy himself also admitted to having an affair with Ou Liya.

In a twist of fate, the nurses and patients present at that moment overheard this.

...

Only when she calmed down and understood the entire sequence of events did Ou Liya realize she had been set up!

She wanted to explain her innocence to Zhuang Shiqing, but he was ignoring her now.

She had no choice but to write what she wanted to say in a letter.

"Mom, you must hand it to Shiqing personally, as long as he reads the letter, he will believe me."

Seeing her daughter in such a state, Ou’s mother could only grasp at straws, going to deliver the letter to Zhuang Shiqing.

...

By the time Ou Liya woke up, her mother had already returned from delivering the letter.

"Mom, did you see Shiqing? Did you give him the letter?"

Ou’s mother nodded, "I did."

Ou Liya’s face lit up with joy, "What did Shiqing say?"

"He tore the letter up without even looking at it and told you to never seek him out again."

The smile on Ou Liya’s face instantly froze.

She couldn’t just sit there and await her doom.

She had to make those who framed her pay!

"Mom, I need to be discharged from the hospital."

Ou’s mother was so startled she almost jumped, "No way! You’ve just had surgery after a major hemorrhage, and you want to leave the hospital now? Do you have a death wish?"

"I have to find Shiqing and make it clear that I was framed; I don’t even know that man named Jinming—they deliberately set me up! Mom, you’re the only one who can help me now."

Seeing her daughter speak with such earnestness and sincerity, Ou’s mother couldn’t help but grow suspicious.

Her daughter had always been chaste, even her relationship with Xie Yawen was conducted with propriety. It made no sense that she would get pregnant and have an inappropriate relationship with a man.

Ou’s mother then approached the driver, Ding Qian, and Azhuo in succession.

After much effort, it was all in vain.

The driver had resigned and gone back home to get married, and as for Ding Qian and Azhuo, they had vanished without a trace.

With so many coincidences piling up, Ou’s mother couldn’t help but believe that her daughter was indeed framed.

...

Two days later, Ou Liya was discharged from the hospital as she wished.

It wasn’t because her health had improved, but because she no longer had the money to pay the hospital bills.

Zhuang Shiqing had ceased to care for her, even taking back the Santana he had once set up for her.

In the more than a year that Ou Liya worked as a nanny for the Zhuang Family, she hadn’t earned a single cent.

Although she later became involved with Zhuang Shiqing, in order to project modesty and integrity, she hadn’t accepted any money from him.

As a result, now she couldn’t even afford the hospital bills.

...

The day after she was discharged, Ou Liya went to the Zhuang Family.

After much thought, she realized that the existence of her and her unborn child was most threatening to Mrs. Zhuang.

Only Mrs. Zhuang had the capability and the means to do such a thing.

"Madam, Teacher Ou is here, she says it’s urgent and needs to see you."

"Ask her what it is," Mrs. Zhuang ordered.

Until this moment, Mrs. Zhuang was still unaware of the dirty secrets between Ou Liya and her husband.

It was purely out of instinctual aversion to Ou Liya’s issue with fungal infection, not wanting to have too much contact with her.

Soon enough, the butler returned holding a square-shaped paper box.

Mrs. Zhuang casually lifted the lid of the box and instantly stepped back in horror.

The butler’s hands slipped, and the paper box fell, coincidentally spilling its contents right at Mrs. Zhuang’s feet.

A bloody, amorphous mass lay there, with a faintly discernible face and torso.

Mrs. Zhuang nearly didn’t catch her breath from the shock.

...

Slap.

No sooner had Ou Liya taken her station in the living room of the Zhuang residence than Mrs. Zhuang slapped her across the face.

"Take your filthy things and get out, this is your last warning. Next time, I won’t be so lenient!" Mrs. Zhuang threatened.

Ou Liya, holding her swollen face, revealed a chillingly cold smile, "Filthy? We’re both women; how come the child you conceived with Zhuang Shiqing is noble, and the one I’m carrying is considered lowly?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.